Colour is all around us. It represents beauty and irresistible things. Just like adults, children are drawn to it, and paint is a wonderful way to experience sensual colour.
Children really enjoy the cool and slimy feeling of paint on their skin especially over their hands and between their fingers.
The children were interested in creating new colours with the paint but found that mixing the paints together on the paper using a brush caused all the paint pot colours to become spoiled. A couple of the children started to experiment by painting their hands different colours and mixing them together and created some wonderful new colours which they enjoyed printing.
It became a guessing game among the children as they experimented making different colours with each child anticipating the results different colour combinations would make. And what fun they had in trying them all out.
blue + red = purple
No longer just a sensory, artistic experience it turned into a lesson in maths and science as well… and we so love it when that happens!
Many new discoveries were made as they tried out different colour combinations.
Many children new what colours different combinations would create; red and yellow makes orange, blue and yellow makes green etc., but to other this was a new experience
Some of the children wanted us to write a story about the process they had taken. An example of this was “I mixed red and blue together and made purple” or “I mixed red and blue together and thought I would make green, but I made purple” and so on. It proved to be another wonderful learning experience inspired by the children.
We have found this to be an activity the children re-visit often and is a really enjoyable way to teach them colour recognition.
make it irresistible
Painting hands is fun, sensual and messy!
Whether children are experiencing sensual paint simply because they love the way it feels on their skin, or are experimenting with hand printing and colour mixing remember the paint is going to be all over their hands, possibly up their arms and definately all over the paint brush handles.
In order for the activity to remain inviting to other children, supply a towel and a bucket of warm soapy water with a sponge to allow each child to wash off their hands and paintbrushes when they have finished the activity.
They will probably enjoy diving into the warm soapy water as much as they did the painting!
This activity does not need to be confined to paper and an easel. The children could use other surfaces like table tops, concrete or windows, and materials like boxes, bricks, wood, cardboard, plastic, fabric etc.
As children tend to think outside the square, ask them what kinds of surfaces or materials they think would be good to try!
